WRC Rally de Portugal: Fiery exit for Paddon

Hayden Paddon has retired from Rally de Portugal after he rolled his Hyundai i20 WRC in SS5 and it caught fire.

Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, who took their maiden win in Argentina last time out, both escaped unhurt, but the car was completely burnt out after the bushes around it caught fire. The incident happened 11.90km into the 27.44km Ponte De Lima 2 test. Paddon had been sixth overall.

Meanwhile, Ott Tanak also crashed out a few minutes later at the same point in his DMACK WRT Fiesta RS WRC and the stage was stopped as a result. His car also caught fire, but the Estonian was able to extinguish it with a hose. He had been joint fourth.